Four contested races on North Hampton ballot

NORTH HAMPTON — Several important town and school district positions are up for grabs this election year. Not the least of these is one seat on the Select Board.

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By Shir Haberman

seacoastonline.com

By Shir Haberman

Posted Feb. 21, 2014 at 2:00 AM

By Shir Haberman
Posted Feb. 21, 2014 at 2:00 AM

» Social News

NORTH HAMPTON — Several important town and school district positions are up for grabs this election year. Not the least of these is one seat on the Select Board.

This year incumbent Phil Wilson will be facing off against current Municipal Budget Committee Vice-chairman Rick Stanton. The two men have been on opposite sides of many issues over the past three years.

In 2011 Wilson and Stanton ran against each other for the Select Board seat that Wilson now holds. At the time, Wilson was the chairman of the Planning Board and Stanton was the chairman of the Budget Committee. Wilson won the race with a vote of 407-325.

Stanton attempted to gain a seat on the board the following year when Selectman Jon Rineman resigned. Despite being the second highest vote-getter in the election, Wilson and Selectman Jim Maggiore voted to appoint Larry Miller to fill Rineman's term in office in the face of some pretty harsh public criticism.

Later that year, Stanton supported and spoke out in favor of a petitioned article for the 2013 Town Meeting warrant that aimed to increase the number of selectmen on the board from the current three to five. Stanton generated the article.

The then-Budget Committee chairman gave three major reasons for doing so: Wider representation of the town's diverse population, a greater opportunity for the introduction of new ideas for dealing with the town's problems and reducing the workloads of board members.

"North Hampton has a number of socioeconomic groups that could have better representation (on the Select Board), such as women, businesses, senior citizens on fixed incomes, families with children, retirees, (as well as those who) commute to work and those that stay at home," Stanton said at a hearing earlier that year.

Wilson vocally opposed the article. He said he was concerned about the possibility of circumventing the state's Right-to-Know law that having five board members could create.

Most recently, Stanton was the one vote on the Budget Committee against recommending voter passage of the article that allowed the Select Board to secure bonding for a new municipal complex. He said his vote represented his concerns that the $6.1 million total cost for the project represented too much of an increase in resident property taxes.

Wilson has been a staunch supporter of the municipal complex project.

This year there will also be a contested race for the two open seats on the Municipal Budget Committee. Current committee Chairman Margaret Allen and member Michael Golden will take on perpetual candidate Jonathan Pinette and former School Board member Robert Copp.

Pinette, who now sits as an alternate on the Zoning Board of Appeals, is also running for one of the two open seats on the Planning Board. In that race he will face off against incumbents Laurel Pohl and Timothy Harned, as well as newcomer Barry Donohoe.

There will also be a contested race for Zoning Board on the ballot in March. Incumbents Robert Field Jr. and Phelps Fullerton are up against Charles Gordon for the two open seats on that board.

Anne Ambrogi has decided not to seek re-election to the School Board this year. That leaves David Allen and Jim Sununu to battle it out for voter approval in March.

In the uncontested races Bill Boesch will become town moderator yet again, Barbara Dewing will remain town treasurer, Hope Miller will retain her job as a supervisor of the checklist, Kelly Parrott will hold on to her position on the Library Board of Trustees, George Chauncey will remain a cemetery trustee and Richard Bettcher will be a water commissioner.

Margaret Brown is running unopposed for the job of trustee of the trust funds, but there are two positions open on that board, which means that the person with the highest number of write-in votes will take the other seat.

Town and school district voting on these positions, as well as the entire municipal and school warrants will take place on March 11, between the hours of 8 a.m. and 7 p.m., at Town Hall on Atlantic Avenue.